...The Quality Improvement Customers Didn’t Want 25/6/16 22:02 SUPPLY CHAIN The Quality Improvement Customers Didn’t Want by Dawn Iacobucci FROM THE JANUARY–FEBRUARY 1996 ISSUE J ack Zadow, the consultant, was persuasive. Wrapping up the hour-long presentation, he still seemed as energized as he had in the first five minutes. “Your biggest competitor, HealthCare One, has already begun using a computerized reception system in 14 of its 22 facilities,” he said, pointing to the overhead projection illuminating the darkened conference room. The image was a regional map with red stars on every Health-Care One facility and yellow circles around the ones using the new system. “When their members come in the door, they go right to a computer and slide their identification card through. Then the computer leads them through a set of questions about their current medical condition, the reason for the visit, and so on. Everything is done electronically: The computer pulls the member’s record, processes the new information, and then routes the member to the appropriate staff person for consultation.” He slipped the next image over the map. It showed Quality Care’s own facilities in dull brown. “HealthCare One will have all its facilities up and running on the new system by June. The number two player, MediCenters, is planning to install a similar system by January 1997. I think you should consider it seriously—it’s really the wave of the future.” The last...
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...“THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT CUSTOMERS DIDN’T WANT” Situation Analysis The case is about a health maintenance organization named ‘Quality care’ and the dilemma that it is facing whether to consider technology over human touch or not ? Allan moulter, the CEO of quality care, isn’t sure if he wants to invest in the computerized reception system that the consultant Jack Zadow has presented to him. The thing which was impossible to ignore is that Quality care’s rivals ‘Health care one’ and ‘Medicenters’ have already invested in similar systems or are planning to do so. The new system provides a self service option to the customers which collects and records the data electronically making it sharply accurate and saving time. The staff will be able to devote more energy to make sure that each customer receives personal attention. So, it promises to be a very beneficial move but Allan is quite confused about this transition. On the other hand, the CIO of the company, Pat penstone is clearly in favour of this idea as she thinks that by not adopting this new technique their customers would think that they are not high tech. Also, she is of the idea that sooner or later, they would have to install a system like this, so why not now. Allan now moves on to Ginger rooney, the VP(marketing) and turns out that she is completely against it as she didn’t like the idea of having the first person the customers meet when they come in the door...
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...share. However, a closer look would find my excess capacity costs at upwards of 40% of the operating expenses. This expense cannot be sustained and must be lowered. Also, the cost of carrying unsold inventory of approximately $25,000 must be addressed. Although the company didn’t lose a sale to lack of inventory the cost of carrying inventory far out weighed the potential loss if we didn’t fill a customers order on time. There are many marketing tools that could be incorporated to pacify a customer. In the real world analysis of the budgets and pro-forma performance must be accomplished daily. During this simulation we experienced quarterly data changes unlike the real world where changes occur daily. Due to this fact, any adjustments made were in the rears ultimately costing the company money. Although, the company ended with a substantial cash balance and a small profit, sustainability, is crucial when looking forward at the broader picture. Who, what, where and how should be the rallying cry going forward. In this highly competitive marketplace the company must decide who is it’s ultimate customer, what it wants to be, a big, intermediate or small company and what it wants to produce, where it wants to sell and lastly how is this product going to manufactured profitably. This must be accomplished while maintaining a strong cash flow, a solid balance sheet along with a market plan that maintains and progressively increases market share. 1.) Reviewing the budgets and...
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...Laure MULLER BS5 2D STRATEGIC MARKETING TRENCO STUDY CASE 10.18.11 ISM MBA PROGRAM 1 Laure MULLER BS5 2D Introduction The operating conditions of a tire are more severe in Africa than in the rest of the world, said Alfredo Nembo, sales manager of Pirelli to the African continent. Weather, road conditions, intensive use of vehicles: tires that travel 100,000 km in Europe do not exceed 35 000 km in Africa. But Pirelli has solid experience in areas comparable to those of Africa: South America, Turkey. Our truck tires, for example, are enhanced compared to that Pirelli sells in Europe to better respond to high temperatures and loads. ".The African market and in our subject the Egyptian market is different from what we know in western countries. The marketing approach is different and strategies ...
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...C A S E S T U D Y A high-tech reception system will make life easier for Quality Care's staff, but what about its customers^ The Quality Improvement Customers Didn't Want by Dawn Iacobucci Jack Zadow, the consultant, was persuasive. Wrapping up the hourlong presentation, he still seemed as energized as be bad in tbe first five minutes. "Your biggest competitor, HealtbCare One, has already begun using a computerized reception system in 14 of its 22 facilities," he said, pointing to the overhead projection illuminating the darkened conference room. The image was a regional map with red stars on every HealthCare One facility and yellow circles around tbe ones using tbe new system. "Wben their members come in the door, they go right to a computer and slide their identification eard through. Then the computer leads them through a set of questions about tbeir current medical condition, tbe reason for tbe visit, and so on. Everything is done electronically: The computer pulls the member's record, processes the new information, and then routes the member to tbe appropriate staff person for consultation." He slipped tbe next image over tbe map. It showed Quality Care's own facilities in dull brown. "HealtbCare One will have all its facilities up and running on the Dawn Iacobucci is an associate professor of marketing at the f.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston. Illinois. 20 new system by June. Tbe number two player, MediCenters...
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...Total Quality Engineers Paper “Quality is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people, processes, and environments that meets or exceeds expectations and helps produce superior value.” (Goetsch & Davis, 2010, p. 5) Quality is an important aspect within every business, and to achieve total quality, businesses must follow the key elements associated with it. This paper will define the key elements of the total quality approach and explain why the elements of quality are useful in today’s environment. Furthermore, this paper will introduce one of the total quality pioneers, describe how the use of the total quality elements made the pioneer successful, and discuss the future of quality. 11 key elements of total quality are crucial to the success of businesses today. They are as follows: strategically based, customer focus, obsession with quality, scientific approach, long-term commitment, teamwork, continual process improvement, bottom-up education and training, freedom through control, unity of purpose, and employee involvement and empowerment. All 11 of these total quality elements allow organizations to create a foundation for the business and constantly maintain improvements. Strategies are fundamental to the success of any organization doing business, whether big, or small. The strategies are created to help an organization reach their future goals, which can be found in the mission statement. Focusing on the customers that purchase a product...
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...introduction Quality Improvement is a formal approach to the analysis of performance and systematic efforts to improve it. It can be differed into Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Improvement (QI). QA refer to the reactive, retrospective, policing, and in many ways punitive. It often involved determining who was at fault after something went wrong. This term is older and not as likely to be used today. Whereas, QI involves both prospective and retrospective reviews. It is aimed at improvement - measuring where you are, and figuring out ways to make things better. It specifically attempts to avoid attributing blame, and to create systems to prevent errors from happening. Another definition that is available is “Systematic, data-guided activities designed to bring about immediate improvement in healthcare delivery in particular settings.” (Lynn, et al, 2007, p. 667) As we all know, in today’s world, almost 90% of our expenses goes to treating the sick and only 10% spent on wellness and prevention of health problems. Batalden and Stoltz stated that “improvement knowledge” is divided into eight knowledge domains in order to improve health care. This eight domain is: 1. Health care as a process and system: the people, procedures, activities, and technologies of care giving that works together for the need of individuals and communities. 2. Variation and measurement: measurement uses to understand the variation across and within systems to improve the design and...
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...What is Quality Assurance and How Does it Help Your Business? Quality assurance, in its broadest context, is the systematic effort by a business to ensure that its end product satisfies its intended use, meets customers’ expectations, and is produced consistently with zero defects. Of course, how well a business manages a quality assurance program is based on the complexity of the end product, the number of processes required to make the product, and the exactness with which those individual processes are defined and controlled. Quality assurance is not a stand-alone system. It is merely part of an overall quality management system that must include process controls, checks and balances, compliance audits, continuous improvement, training, and employee engagement at every level. This overall process is most-frequently defined as Total Quality Management, which is the umbrella under which all of these other systems reside. Quality management systems are not just limited to “manufactured” products. Total Quality Management concepts can be employed by any business that provides a service or product. In most cases, the product is only one piece of satisfying the customer. To meet consumer expectations, not only does the product have to perform as specified, but it must be backed by a responsive service team, proactive customer support, and conflict resolution services. A manufacturer that makes a product that performs 99.9% of the time as expected will continuously...
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...standards of the quality. Moreover, I will explain what the service is and how they are used within the work place. Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use their products or services. 1. Identifying customer needs before the sale You have to treat all customers with respect and provide any information to the customer if they have requested it. 2. Customer service as an objective Customer service as an objective is any activity that affects customers before, during and after a purchase. 3. Target marketing Retailers choose the level of customer service depending on the different demands of their target market. Different organisations offer different levels of customer service. 4. Product offer Customer service is an important part of any product due to that it enables the business to have a competitive advantage from the other businesses. 5. Service quality Service quality is the expectations with performance of the whole business. A business with high service quality will meet customer needs, also making sure that they stand out for the competition. 6. Sales process The sales process is a set of steps that are required to follow within the business, in order to sell an item or product. 7. Selling skills The selling skills that are required are communication, organisation and to be able to focus in order to sell products. 8. Sales support Sales support is the process of an order for the customer. If the goods...
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...importance of quality. Foreign competition, particularly from the Japanese, resulted in the increase of market share for many Japanese companies. And the Sanyo Manufacturing Company is the one. Thanks to globalization and rapid advances in technology, today’s manufacturing environment is increasingly competitive. Manufacturers need to stay focused on finding new ways to design, produce, sell and deliver products. In manufacturing, quality is an important component of all functions. And the ability to achieve world-class status in manufacturing and service depends on a business strategy driven by total quality management. And in this paper, we will learn to understand management approach to quality between Japanese and U.S. and other questions about quality through Sanyo Case. Question 1: compare and contrast the U.S. and Japanese management approach to quality at Sanyo. a) What is emphasized? b) How is quality measured? Answers: In the Warwick days, volume and cost were all-important. In other words, Warwick wouldn’t like to pay any extra money to quality problems which occur on the assembly line. But Sanyo is different. Sanyo take improving quality as the number one priority for the plant. If there are some troubles take place on the line, Sanyo will ignore the cost and deal with the trouble as soon as possible. Companies get profit from customers. Customers’ needs must be the most important. Obviously quality is the customers’ basic...
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...Read and discuss three main measures of performance in organisations. Give practical examples showing how organisations can adopt such measures to enable them excel. Many executives were convinced that traditional measures of financial performance didn’t let them manage effectively and wanted to replace them with operational measures. No single measure can provide a clear performance target or focus attention on the critical areas of the business. Managers want a balanced presentation of both financial and operational measures. Performance Measurement can be best understood through considering the definitions of the words 'performance' and 'measurement' according to the Baldrige Criteria: * Performance refers to output results and their outcomes obtained from processes, products, and services that permit evaluation and comparison relative to goals, standards, past results, and other organisations. Performance can be expressed in non-financial and financial terms. * Measurement refers to numerical information that quantifies input, output, and performance dimensions of processes, products, services, and the overall organisation (outcomes). Performance measures might be simple (derived from one measurement) or composite. Using a Balanced Scorecard Approach to Measure Performance Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton have developed a set of measures that they refer to as "a balanced scorecard." These measures give top managers a fast but comprehensive view of the organization's...
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...the advancement of technology. Therefore, it is essential for today’s worker to remain relevant with their knowledge and skills. With the proper training, personal development, and education workers are able to remain a fundamental part of the work environment. Training is behavior necessary to develop skills (usually job specific), and development is acquiring those skills. Education, on-the-other-hand, provides general skills not specific to a particular career or job (Blanchard/Thacker, 2010). 2. Briefly describe what the organization is and what is does. This should be one or two paragraphs. Toyota was founded in 1867, by Sakichi Toyoda, with the purpose to contribute to a prosperous society with the innovation and manufacture of quality automobiles. Toyota manufactures various types of vehicles worldwide. Toyota is considered an innovative leader, and the organization is well-known for its management philosophy and the world’s first mass-market hybrids. Toyota’s vision is to create earth-friendly products for growth. Reported March 2012, Toyota conducts its business globally with 50 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries and regions. The automobiles are sold in more than 160 countries and regions. Toyota has a massive number of employees. There are a combined total of 11 facilities located in the United States and Canada (most in the U.S.). For example: Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, Inc began November 1998, and this facility employs 1,069 individuals...
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...with each other to discover places around the world. * These competition kind of resembles todays fight in the automobile industry.Efficient use of time , as explained and used in operations is a very important way to find improvement. * Gravity waves: These waves are generated in a fluid medium or at the interface between two media when the force of gravity. An example of such an interface is that between the atmosphere and the ocean, which gives rise to wind waves. * Examples of leadership in Shackleton’s: He Invented the power bar ( found the right logistics for food), as a leader you have to seek informal contact at times which is more important at times that formal contact. * As a leader you can never extinguish HOPE . Is a vital element to lift up the spirit. * Competitiveness in the 80’s brought quality into a new meaning. * 3 leading “quality gurus” were W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Philip Crosby. They all were active consultants, lecturers, and authors with years of experience. * Deming and Juran, in their 80s very influential in Japan; Crosby in his 60s worked previously at ITT as VP of quality. They all have a...
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...suggestions in which business can make. M&S as a business has stakeholders, a stakeholder is anyone who has an interest with the business and also anyone person or organisation that is affected by the decisions that the business make and also people who can affect how a business operates. Examples of a stakeholder includes owners, managers, workers, customers, suppliers and lenders. Each stakeholder has their own interest such as how much profit the business makes, how much salary they get, higher ages and to keep their employment position within the workforce or even high quality goods at affordable prices. Also, there are two types of stake holders internal such as employees or owners and external such as the community around the business. Due to every stakeholder group or individual having their own interests there could be some conflict between them. An example of this is a owners interest to make the highest amount of profit which may mean that they cut costs with suppliers which means they will get cheaper goods but with less quality which goes causes conflict with customers interest to get the best quality product which. Another example is that business owners may move their production to overseas which will decrease production and staff costs and also the producers may prefer the business to produce abroad however this goes against the interests of employees due to one of their interests being to retain their employment status in which they will lose their jobs...
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...problem. To appraise effectively, you must also spot performance problems, provide constructive feedback, and take action to improve performance. Measuring and managing performance are two of the most difficult issues a manager faces. (A,2) Identifying performance to be measured: As we know the large shipment worth $100,000 that suppose to go out to an 7 year old elementary school children in South America did not pass testing due to small quantity of lead in the whistle. This shipment is been recalled based on the law of ethical, moral and legal principal involved. We should therefore identify the course of this problem. Within the performance appraisal process, measuring means determining the level of performance by judging the quality, quantity, timeliness, and/or cost effectiveness of the work against a set of standards. As a Manager of this enterprise, I would call a meeting with all the employees to identify performance. Though it has been proved to work in...
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